So Cool I'm Speechless

Christmas

A couple of years ago I was a community columnist for our local paper. I could write articles about anything I wanted. At Christmas time that year, Mitchell inspired my column. I thought it would be nice to share it since it is that time of year again.
Merry Christmas !


During a recent bedtime story, I read a Christmas book from the library to my 5 and 3-year-old children. It was the story of some bears that were looking for the perfect Christmas tree. The father bear went into the woods with his cubs to cut one himself, every tree they came upon that was “perfect” had other animal inhabitants living in it, and the bears did not want to uproot them. At the end of the story, all the furry creatures surprised father bear by decorating his home for Christmas to repay him for not destroying theirs. The moral of the story was being kind to others and how Christmas is about giving and not receiving. It was a nice story. When I finished, my son tapped his hand on the back cover of the book, saying, “ they forgot something, they forgot something! They forgot about Jesus”. My son gets it.

We spend time with our children making sure that they know the real reason why we celebrate on December 25th. Sure, the visits with Santa are fun; the parties and food are enjoyable. Giving presents makes you feel good. But do you know why we give presents at Christmas? Is it to make our children happy? Show our appreciation for friends and relatives? Yep, that’s part of it. Ask my children why we give presents and they will say “ because we got the BIGGEST present of all: Jesus.” We give our gifts to show our love for Jesus.

People ask: “what do you want for Christmas this year?” Many will give a list of material things that they want; some say the philosophical things like “ peace on earth”. My Christmas wish is that people slow down in the hustle and bustle of the season, slow down, and listen to the songs that tell the reason for the season. The words of O Holy Night: “ Long lay the earth, in sin and error pining, til He appeared and the soul felt its worth”. The” He” there is the baby Jesus. What an inspiration to hear, to learn the whole story, Christmas is the beginning and a very joyful time for Christians. But don’t forget it’s only the beginning, “the rest of the story,” as a famous radio personality says, happens at Easter when Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice for us.

Taking the religious aspect out of these holidays will never change their meaning to those of us who rejoice in them. We need to make sure that everyone knows the real reason for this most magical time. To celebrate the real reason will make the holiday much more meaningful. Little things like Christmas carols and gift exchanges have much more significance than just a song and present when the true meaning behind it is your motivation.

Make a new tradition this year, along with the Christmas cookies, tree decorating and Holiday parties, attend an Advent service, Christmas concert or even watch the movie “ the Passion of the Christ.” Like my son said about his book, don’t forget the big “Something” that Christmas is about: Jesus.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIE!

Sounds Like a Family Get-to-Gether Just Waiting to Happen

New Wisconsin Dells theme park to create 65 jobs

Associated Press - December 3, 2008 4:35 PM ET

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. (AP) - The Kalahari Resort will open a theme park in Wisconsin Dells later this month, creating more than 65 midlevel jobs.

The Indoor Theme Park is set to open Dec. 19. It will feature bowling, go-cart tracks, a carousel, miniature golf and climbing walls.

The resort says the jobs are in areas including management, security, maintenance and food service.

The new park will be next to the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center, a hotel and indoor waterpark.

Read the story here.

Finally! Photos from the Bathroom Remodel

Here it is! Pretty much complete including the newly tiled and operational shower area! We're so excited. It turned out very nicely but there's still a tiny bit of finishing to do around the edges.

I love political humor!

Kind Suggests Bailing out Bankers

In a local radio interview in September, Congressman Ron Kind suggests bailing out the bankers. Well, he got his wish and now you and I are on the hook for over a trillion dollars just so the poor babies on Wall Street can continue to afford their limos.

By the way, have you noticed how wonderful the economy is now that Kind's bailout passed? You didn't? Oh, that's right. IT DIDN'T WORK!

Stark on Government Spending

Paul Stark, Republican candidate for Congress, points out Ron Kind's inability to stop wasteful spending in Washington.

'Twas the night before elections

'Twas the night before elections
And all through the town
Tempers were flaring
Emotions all up and down!

I, in my bathrobe
With a dog in my lap
Had cut off the TV
Tired of political crap.

When all of a sudden
There arose such a noise
I peered out of my window
Saw Obama and his boys

They had come for my wallet
They wanted my pay
To give to the others
Who had not worked a day!

He snatched up my money
And quick as a wink
Jumped back on his bandwagon
As I gagged from the stink

He then rallied his henchmen
Who were pulling his cart
I could tell they were out
To tear my country apart!

" On Fannie, on Freddie,
On Biden and Ayers!
On Acorn, On Pelosi"
He screamed at the pairs!

They took off for his cause
And as he flew out of sight
I heard him laugh at the nation
Who wouldn't stand up and fight!

So I leave you to think
On this one final note-
IF YOU DONT WANT SOCIALISM
GET OUT AND vote!

Mitchell and friends

Mitchell and his friends turned our backyard into a battlefield last weekend. They raked all of the leaves in the yard into bunkers and waged their "war". Not sure who the enemy is.. it's an imaginary one. Our neighborhood is full of boys. 3 brothers, Carson, Connor and Riley ( it was their house that the trampoline incident with Amanda's broken leg happened) and Dillon.

Amanda was in the house in her usual spot of late, the couch, still not walking. Please keep her in your prayers, that she can get over her fears and use that mended leg again. She has started going to Physical Therapy to regain mobility.

Why I'm Voting Democrat

I'm voting Democrat because I'm way too irresponsible to own a gun, and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and thieves.

I'm voting Democrat because I love the fact that I can now marry whatever I want. I've decided to marry my horse.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would.

I'm voting Democrat because freedom of speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.

I'm voting Democrat because when we pull out of Iraq I trust that the bad guys will stop what they're doing because they now think we're good people.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe that people who can't tell us if it will rain on Friday CAN tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if I don't start driving a Prius.

I'm voting Democrat because I'm not concerned about the slaughter of millions of babies so long as we keep all death row inmates alive.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe that business should not be allowed to make profits for themselves They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution as THEY see fit.

I'm voting Democrat because I believe liberal judges need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would NEVER get their agendas past the voters.

I'm voting Democrat because my head is so firmly planted up my @#% it's unlikely that I'll ever have another point of view.

"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything they don't own"
- William F. Carling -

The Most Powerful Position in the World

This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things. - Isaiah 45:1-7

Over the past months (or what seems like years!) many dollars have been spent by political candidates to convince voters of different parties and persuasions that they are the individuals qualified to lead in the office for which they are running. In just a few weeks, Americans will cast their vote for local, state, and federal officials. Included will be a vote for the President of the United States. One news commentator said that this office is the "most powerful position in the world." If that is true, what a grave decision we have to make! What if collectively we choose the "wrong" candidate?

In the "crunch" time of Election 2008, the words above from the Prophet Isaiah written 2700 years ago can bring calm to our hearts. The Lord God already holds the most powerful position in the world! He knows who will be the next President. For that matter, he already knows how he will use him to carry out his plan for the world, even if the next President does not acknowledge the Lord God of the Bible as his God. He did it years ago when he "took hold of the right hand" of Cyrus, a pagan ruler in Persia and used him to "subdue nations" and "strip kings of their armor," i.e. to defeat the Babylonian Empire (see Scripture above). This action allowed the Lord's people Israel to return to their homeland of Canaan.

We are blessed to have the ability to participate in our political process and as responsible citizens, we should do that. But when we get worried or concerned about what is going to happen to America, or this world, rest assured that the One who truly rules the world, the LORD, the one who "formed the light and created the darkness," is in control. He tells us, "I, the LORD, do all these things."

Prayer:

Lord God, we have to admit that sometimes we worry and fret about life because we feel out of control. Too often we forget that you truly do control all things. Forgive us. Lead us today to look to you and marvel at how you have taken care of our biggest problem in life, that of our sin through the life, death and resurrection of your Son Jesus. Realizing our biggest issue in life has been resolved by you, let us find peace knowing you alone hold the most powerful position in the world and will use that position for our blessing. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

Why we Have the 2nd Amendment

Wisonsin's Governor For Life Tommy Thompson

State Senator Dan Kapanke Fires up the Crowd

This is one of the greatest guys you could ever meet. He's a seed salesman in the "real world" and also owns the La Crosse Loggers baseball team with his wife Ruth. He was elected to the state senate in 2004 and you really cannot meet a nicer guy.

Senator McCain Visits La Crosse

Below is some of the video footage I took at the La Crosse McCain rally. When I stopped by the McCain victory center a couple of nights before the event I had some great conversations with volunteers and campaign staff. Clint, from the McCain campaign, was very knowledgeable and impressive. He arranged for the eighth graders from my kids' school to attend the rally and set us up in a very good spot. My deep thanks to Clint and all the volunteers who did a terrific job of making this such a memorable day.

The students were so excited to be taking part in this historic election. It was a real joy to see them have such a good time meeting the great leaders of our state and nation. They shook hands with Governor Tommy Thompson, Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, State Senator Dan Kapanke, congressional candidate Paul Stark, and John and Cindy McCain.

Mitchell got to shake Cindy McCain's hand and she even called him "honey."

JAM in the News

Wow, Physics is a Tough Racket

MIT physicist gets death threats over collider experiment | By Sharon Gaudin
September 10, 2008 (Computerworld) An MIT physics professor and Nobel laureate has received death threats because of his involvement with the Large Hadron Collider, which performed the world's biggest physics experiment today.

Read the whole story here.

Amanda's New Cast

As most of you know, Amanda had a little accident on the neighbor's trampoline and got a hairline fracture just below her knee. Here she is with her new cast.

Weekend at Wyalusing State Park

We had a great time camping at Wyalusing State Park last weekend. The camp sites we reserved were very roomy, shady, and secluded compared to some of the others we saw there. 223, 224, & 225 all look like great sites to reserve for future trips.

We spent about an hour canoing with the kids and we also spent a couple hours at a beach that is just down the road from the park. I'm very impressed with this park and I hope that we'll be able to go hiking on some of the trails during future visits. Most of the trails were closed this year due to some of the flooding that this area received in the fall.



Check out that amazing view!

Floor Tile Ideas

With our home bathroom remodel coming up this week I have flooring on the brain.

Here's what our floor tile looks like at the office. I like the way it blends up to overlap the wall.

Up North Vacation 2008

Here's footage of the kids playing in the water at Loon's Landing near St. Germain where we stay for a week every summer.

Vacation Prep

We're all getting ready for our annual Up North vacation and Amanda drew this picture for me. I guess she was looking into her crystal ball to see what I'll be doing all next week ;-) I'll try to do some audio blogging from Up North.

Jaydon's Birthday!

Jaydon had a great birthday party this past weekend. He got an X-Box game from me and his dad and a couple Play Station II games from his Grandma Donna and Uncle Steve. It should be interesting to see how the limited playing time goes :) Anyway, it was a good day!

Pigeon Creek Camping

We took a little camping trip this past weekend as a preview for our upcoming Up North vacation. We chose Pigeon Creek campground in the Black River Forest because it's a place where Diane camped with her family growing up and it's only about an hour drive. The sites are nice and woodsy and there's a nice beach for the kids, a nice old logging road for a nature hike, and lots of good fishing from shore spots for me. We had a really good time and I hope we'll be able to fit in another trip before school starts.

Winner!

Bob Lindner got the right answer in the comments of the other post. It's Van Halen Sunday Afternoon in the Park from the Fair Warning album. For those of you who may not know Bob, he's a programmer that I worked with at the AVS Group back in the day. Way to go Bob!

Another Try

Is it Ozzy Ozbourne? Not sure if I spelled it right though.

Godspeed Tony Snow

I learned early this morning that Tony Snow passed away at the age of 53. He's had cancer for some time now and I guess it finally caught up with him. For those of you who don't know, Tony Snow is a conservative talk show host who also served as press secretary for President Bush. He was also the host of Fox's Sunday morning political show before Chris Wallace took over that post. Though I never met the man I learned a lot from watching and listening to him. I always got a sense of his deep faith in God and the American Spirit and he helped me learn about disagreeing with people without being disagreeable. This world will miss you Tony. See you in the next.

Nope, Not Slaughter.... Next Contestant...

... Here's another hint ...

The leaders of the band are brothers named Eddie and Alex and they are listed as the 19th best selling band/artist of all time.

Name That Tune

My guess is Slaughter? That is a total guess by the way. I'm sure I'm way off.

Name that Tune

I was geeking out with Flight Simulator and making a movie when Diane brought this CD home from the library. I'll give you a hint: it's from the year 1981 and it's one of the best known rock bands of all time.

Fun with Computers

Debbie, here's the device I told you about. This cost about $20 and it allows me to insert an old hard drive and then use it as a file storage device that I can simply plug into a USB port. You can find out more about it here.

RE: Debbie's New Camper

Nice! I think we're a year or two from looking into popups. Still haven't gotten enough use out of our tent to really appreciate a good popup :-) Let us know how your first trip goes. As for the 12th, we'll definitely see if the calendar likes that date. I can't think of anything that would prevent it right now. I drove through Wyalusing on my way home a couple months ago and scoped out some nice sites. That would be a perfect location since it's almost the same distance for both our travel. We also looked at Mirror Lake near the Dells. It was the day before Lake Delton washed away so we're not sure what kind of condition it's in now but we really liked a lot of their sites. Very woodsy and secluded. We're going to go camping at Pigeon Creek in the Black River Forest this weekend and we'll post pictures after that. The nice thing about living here in God's Country is the never-ending outdoor recreation choices. Picking one is the hardest part :-)

New Camper!!

Hey, by the way, we got a pop-up camper a few months back. We haven't taken it out yet but we popped it up in the yard and tested it out. FUN! FUN! FUN! We are going camping next week. Not sure where yet but we'll find somewhere! Chris, how's your schedule the weekend of Aug. 16th? We want to go camping again that weekend and I would love if you guys could come too. If anyone is available, please let me know!!!

This is on the side of the garage. I set up a little fire pit so we could roast marshmallows and make smores!

Watching Mason and Morgan

I'm going to try to add a video of the kids giving Mason and Morgan a ride on their power wheels. I hope it turns out cause it's really cute. I was babysitting the kids one day while Kurt and Megan went golfing.

Catch Up (Madysin's First Communion)

Madysin's First Communion went really well. She looked so beautiful! Here's some pics.

I'm Still Here!!

Hey, sorry everybody. Or should I say Chris and Laura. I don't get on the computer much as you can tell. I have to work on that. I will really try to do better, I promise. Well, I have a second job now for the summer. I work up at the gas station while the kids are at summer school (3 hours, M-Th) and on Sat and Sun that the kids are at Jason's. It's really fun. I just started this week and I really like it. And I can really use a few extra bucks. Oh, other potential big news for my family. Jason is in the process of buying a house literally one minute from our house here in Potosi. It is really exciting. If it all goes through it will be an awesome deal for the kids. I am really excited for them. For me, it's good too. We get along great. He's here at least 2 days a week to see the kids anyway. He's a super dad. So I'll keep you updated as to whether it goes through or not. There are some ify situations so we'll see. The kids don't know yet. We don't want to tell them until it's for sure. Well I guess that's all for now. Like I said, I'll try to be better!

My New Flight Sim Project

I read on the Internet about how to fly in formation with myself by recording individual flights and playing them back as AI aircraft. Given this information, I have decided to spend all of my free time (aside from honey-do list items of course ;-) to produce a full length virtual air show with the entire Blue Angel's squadron. I still have a couple bugs to work like getting the right numbers to display on the tail (they're all 1 right now). But this is going to be a lot of fun. This first installment took me 3 hours to direct and produce and it's the simple act of taxiing to line up the squadron. The next step will be to line up the first 4 onto the runway for the takeoff in diamond formation.

This is Hilarious... Classic Political Doublespeak and Circ

Father's Day Fun in the Sun

Welcome to the Chris Muller blog

All right, I think I've had it with this so-called "family blog", because to me that's not what it is at all anymore. First of all, Chris and I have been the only people to post anything in months, and second of all, it has pretty much just become a place for Chris to spew his political and religious beliefs. It wouldn't even be so bad if you weren't just outright insulting, Chris. Especially when you know damn well that more than one person in your family is a "dumocrat". I think it absolutely inappropriate for this blog to continue to be yet ANOTHER place online for Chris to spit out more of his political viewpoints, and I regret the fact that I have at least once followed suit with my own viewpoints. You already have places set aside for these kinds of commentary, Chris. This blog should not be yet another. Enough is enough, especially when people are utterly and blatantly disrespectful and frankly, immature. So if anyone at all besides Chris and myself is even reading this.....which I doubt....hopefully you'll agree with me and maybe even start posting something worth reading. It would be nice if this was what I hoped it would be in the beginning--a place where we could all keep up with each others lives, rather than Chris's latest favorite bible quote or pet political project.

Bush urges Congress to lift offshore drilling ban

Amen, bro!

Read the whole story here.

Drill here, drill now! Check this out too.

$2 gas here we come! Oh, wait, the Dumocrats still control Congress and they want us all to ride bicycles. Never mind. We're screwed into paying $4 per gallon for a while.

Favorite Fishing Bait

Here's my favorite type of bait. This is the one I'm currently preparing to buy from Bass Pro Shop. These baits use a Colorado blade to really get the attention of fish and both Northern Pike and Largemouth Bass will strike them. You can also get spinners with Willow Leaf blades which are thinner and move faster through the water for more active fish. As for colors, I like the yellowish "Chartreuse" color the most but in really clear waters I'll also use white and in muddy water I like the black ones.

Another Neat Passage

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, Why did you make me like this? Ro 9:14-20

3rd Graders at Children's Museum - Part Two

Here's the 2nd group of 3rd graders.

3rd Graders at Children's Museum

Our local weather guy, Bill Graul, gave a presentation to the 3rd graders at the Children's Museum and they recorded this for the morning newscast.

Found this Today Too

Found this Movie Today

Flight Simulator Air Show with the P51 Mustang

3rd Grade Class Trip

Diane and I chaperoned Mitchell's 3rd grade class trip to the YMCA and Children's Museum today. At the Y they were able to learn about log rolling. Check out these photos.

Memorial Day Fishing

Kurt and I did some fishing around Cassville on the Saturday before Memorial Day. It was tough fishing and we got zilch for bass bites and walleye. We finished the day bottom fishing and got a couple of nice catfish.

Sunday on my way home to Onalaska I decided that I hadn't had enough fishing yet so I drove down to Lake Onalaska at the end of Airport Road. After only seven casts with Colorado blade spinner fishing it right under the surface I hooked into my biggest Northern Pike ever. Thank God I was using my new medium/heavy rod with Fireline because that monster went right for the weeds and cabbage growing in the little bay there. I struggled for about 10 minutes to bring that monster to shore and my heart was going about 100-miles per hour. Wow! What a fish. I couldn't hang onto him well enough for a picture though so I just let him go.

I went back again today, Memorial Day, but someone else beat me to that same spot so I went down by the Lake Onalaska spillway instead. I fished the spinner again with nothing. Then I down-sized to a tube bait and started fishing slow. After about 15 casts I hooked into a fairly decent 2-pound bass. Nothing extraordinary but catching it was fun. I noticed that his tail fin was all bloody so I assume he was busy scraping the bottom for a spawning bed.

The next time Dad and/or Kurt want to do some fishing how about coming up to the Lake Onalaska area where everything seems to be biting?

Mitchell's School Project - UPDATE

Mitchell just got the grade for his project.

He did a really great job! Check it out.

Newer, Bigger, Virtual Air Show

Well how about that...

I just did an innovation style questionnaire to see how I work and it turns out I'm into "experimenting & exploring."

http://www.creativeadvantage.com/experimenting.htm

http://www.creativeadvantage.com/exploring.htm

A very interesting combination that apparently indicates a battle within myself between process and risk taking. Apparently on the one hand I like to experiment step-by-step with controlled criteria but on the other hand my "balls are bigger than my brains" and I just jump into problems to see what happens. Very interesting...

How to Add Links to Blog Posts

Live Nativity First Cut

How sad

I just got this email and thought it was pretty sad. I really hope Wisconsin citizens are smarter than to do something like this:

Last week, the Michigan Supreme Court declared that its constitutional amendment banning gay marriage also prohibits Michigan's public employers from offering domestic partner health insurance.
For several reasons, the Michigan Supreme Court's decision has absolutely no bearing on the domestic partner benefits that numerous Wisconsin public employees fought hard for and won. This is a terrible decision for the people of Michigan, and contrary to what they were promised during their amendment battle.

Here is the background on the Michigan case. In 2004, Michigan voters amended their state constitution to provide that "the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose." During their referendum campaign, proponents of the Michigan amendment made numerous public assurances that the amendment would not impact domestic partner protections and benefits. The Michigan Supreme Court, in a 5-2 decision, said that those assurances were irrelevant to what they said was the "clear" wording of the amendment. Interestingly, it took the Court 14 pages, breaking the single sentence down into five separate parts, to reach the conclusion that the wording was clear.

Read the entire 54-page opinion of the Michigan Supreme Court.

Wisconsin is not Michigan. There are significant differences in the wording of our "marriage" amendment and in what our Supreme Court must consider in interpreting it. Our amendment limits the status of marriage to heterosexual couples, and prohibits the state from extending all or substantially all of the legal rights and protections of marriage to unmarried couples. The Michigan amendment focuses only on who may marry or have a "similar" union that is recognized by the state, and does not address the benefits that flow from marriage or similar union at all. This difference in focus allowed the Michigan courts to look only at whether the nature of the relationship between domestic partners "looked like" a marital relationship, rather than also looking at whether the benefits provided by the government were "identical to or substantially similar" to those provided through marriage, as would be the test under the Wisconsin amendment.

In addition, unlike the Michigan courts, Wisconsin courts are required to consider the numerous public statements made by legislators and proponents that the amendment would not prohibit domestic partner benefits.

Even though we know Wisconsin is not Michigan, this horrendous judicial decision highlights our need to continue the fight for full equality for LGBT Wisconsinites and their families. We will be working with our legislative allies on securing domestic partner protections and benefits, and we will be calling on the legislative proponents of the Wisconsin marriage amendment to reaffirm the assurances they made during the campaign. We are prepared, with your help, to identify and target any who refuse to stand by their earlier words.

Please contribute here to help us achieve full equality.

Sincerely,

Glenn Carlson

Executive Director

Fair Wisconsin

An Awesome Prayer

Here is a prayer from Paul to the Ephesians that I paraphrased for myself:

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen me with power through his Spirit in my inner being, so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith. And I pray that I, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that I may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

This prayer encompasses so many great things in just a few lines. I kneel before the Father and humble myself before him. I recognize his power and the extraordinary riches that he has given to me and my family. I ask for His continued blessings and for Christ to dwell in my heart so I can stay firm in my faith. And I pray that He give me the right frame of mind to attempt to comprehend the vastness of his love for me and all of humanity.

Prayer is a very important aspect of Christian faith. Through prayer we humble ourselves and we maintain our relationship with God. I heard someone once describe it in this way: God is like a rich and powerful Dad. No matter how badly we screw up as His brat children he still loves us. He's our Dad, why not give him a call every now and then?

Virtual Air Show

I know, I know, jeez I'm a geek! But this was fun!

Mitchell's School Project

Mitchell just finished up his school project to create a model depicting the habitat for an animal. He chose the Great White Shark. It turned out pretty good and the report he wrote was really nice too. Take a look.

My Ignorant Ramblings... Continued... (that's sarchasm folks)

To say that there is no debate among scientists about the existence of global warming is perhaps one of the biggest mis-characterizations that I have ever seen from you. Either you are grossly ignorant of the debate that is going on or you have been brainwashed to simply believe one side without examining all the information that is available. I hope, for your sake, that it is ignorance because education can easily remedy that. There is a huge debate between scientists about this issue. There are politically motivated scientists on one side who say it does exist and that it's being caused by humans and then there is another side of scientists who use real data to show that it is simply natural cycles of warming and cooling of the Earth.

I encourage you to be more open minded about this subject and to thoroughly investigate the real data that is available. That is what scientists are supposed to do: examine the evidence and draw conclusions. Politicians are the ones who draw conclusions and then try to find the evidence to match.

Take for example the fact that Mars has also been warming. How many humans are there on Mars? How many SUVs and smoke spewing factories?

Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says
Kate Ravilious
for National Geographic News
February 28, 2007
Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural—and not a human-induced—cause, according to one scientist's controversial theory.

Read the whole story here.

I guess the (obviously) politically motivated Al Gore forgot to mention that kind of information in his propaganda movie.

What about Dr. Roy Spencer a research scientist and former Senior Scientist for Climate Studies at NASA (you know, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration – big right wing nut jobs, right?)

"The people that have built the climate models that predict global warming believe they have sufficient physics in those models to predict the future. I believe they don't. I believe the climate system, the weather as it is today in the real world shows a stability that they do not yet have in those climate models."

Read more about Dr. Spencer here.

So, you see, there is a debate and it has been politicized so it really is no longer a scientific question but, rather, a political one where people with anti-capitalist agendas are spreading fear in order to rationalize taking more of our freedom away all in the name of saving the planet when no salvation is necessary.

My opinion that it is an anti-capitalist agenda at work comes from the evidence within the supposed solutions proposed by the environmentalist groups. They insist that government must force all of us into certain behaviors (stop driving big cars, buy only certain kinds of light bulbs, force landowners to give up property for use as wind farms, burn food (corn) instead of fossil fuels, etc). But nowhere do these supposed friends of the Earth mention one of the most efficient forms of clean energy: nuclear energy. I surmise from that exclusion that they are not really interested in sustaining or expanding our energy needs but, instead, are more interested in micro-managing our lives to force us into certain lifestyles that we would not naturally choose for ourselves.

Nuclear energy is the most efficient and effective source of power that we have on the planet. If 20-something year-old Navy sailors are smart enough to safely maintain MOBILE nuclear reactors in our ships and submarines then why is it that you brilliant scientists can't bring yourselves to propose that as an alternative? Answer: because your science has been hijacked by politics and it isn't "politically correct" to embrace nuclear technology since Jane Fonda's China Syndrome.

Now that you have taken it upon yourself to defend these anti-freedom, politically motivated forces, perhaps you can answer this question for me: Why are you so afraid of freedom?

global warming is real, for crying out loud people

Chris, I think you need to read up a bit on global warming before you say things that might make you sound ignorant. There is NO debate among SCIENTISTS about whether or not global warming is real. There may be debate among some politicians and regular citizens....but that really doesn't say much other than global warming is an inconvenience to them and the way they want to continue living. Seriously Chris, I urge you and anyone else reading this blog to research the topic. You might start here:

http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1011
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1206_041206_global_warming.html

And yeah, I'm sure you could search the internet and easily find a million webpages that say just the opposite-that global warming is a hoax, etc. etc. However, I challenge you to find a REPUTABLE source without an obvious agenda that says such things.

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Tara Johnson Endorsed by Radical Leftwing

The radical leftwingers on the Daily Kos blog are endorsing Tara Johnson. You can tell a lot about a person from the company they keep.

Read their post here.

Flight Simulator Adventures

I spent some time learning how to fly the Boeing 747. Man, this thing is a beast! It took me several attempts to figure out the right configuration to get this monster off the ground at the La Crosse airport and then it took me several more to find the right procedures for landing it. Thank goodness for reverse thrusters and spoilers. Two systems that were previously never used by me since I was flying small planes that could stop on a dime. Here are some screens from my flights around Milwaukee and San Fransisco.

Louisiana Cuisine

After a large plate of Crawfish Fettucini I had a whopping slice of this cheesecake Napoleon. MMM-MM-MM-GOOD!

Trip to Monroe, Louisiana

Visiting corporate headquarters this week. Here are some photos from the journey.

Watch out, new sins!

Apparently the Vatican just released a list of new deadly sins that are more applicable to our modern age. I guess I'm pretty screwed since I commit number one several times a day at work. Woops.

The New Mortal Sins

1.) genetic modification

2.) carrying out experiments on humans

3.) polluting the environment

4.) causing social injustice

5.) causing poverty

6.) becoming obscenely wealthy

7.) taking drugs

Godspeed Brett

The Packers have announced that Brett Favre has decided to retire from football. Thanks for all the great memories Brett and I pray you will enjoy retirement.

Read the Favre tribute page here.

I don't care who you are... that there's funny!

Prayer Circle

We recently heard about Jessica's problems and wanted to let everyone know that we are keeping her and the family in our prayers. Please do the same so she has the strength to overcome this physical obstacle that she is facing.

Audio Moblog

This is very, very cool! Unfortunately, while I was blogging the following message my cell phone battery died so I didn't get to finish what I wanted to tell you... I have a trip coming up in March and I thought I might try to use this as an interesting way to keep everyone up-to-date. If you have any questions or comments about this then please use the "comments" feature of this post so we can get a good "thread" going.

Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone! It was a really good birthday because Dan got me the best present I've ever received. When I studied abroad in Vienna, I fell in love with the works of the painter Egon Schiele. This painting is my all-time favorite. If you'd like to view it, you can go to this link: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/S/schiele/embrace.jpg.html

Dan ordered a really nice print of it and had his cousin matte and frame it (she works in a store where they frame artwork). It looks so good! I think it's the most grown-up present I've ever gotten. Yay!

Pine Car Derby Time!

We visited Dad and Jeanne a couple weeks ago to cut out and prep the kids' pine cars for the upcoming derby. Here are photos of them sanding them down after Dad cut out their designs.